I haven’t written anything in over a month. It’s not just writing about metal, but it’s hard to enjoy any of my passions. Not to go too far into detail, but Kittie’s long-awaited new album Fire came out the day before I found out that my mother didn’t have much time left. Just a few […]

The debut album, Misery Sermon from these track suit and mask wearing Russian deathcore thugs was one of my guilty pleasures of 2017, but then they went a bit quiet for a couple of years. But a flurry of singles and videos in 2019, 2020 and 2021 (and even got the famed metal gunner/drummer treatment […]

I was curious as to how After the Burial would follow up the emotional 2016 album, Dig Deep, the tragedy laden homage to deceased former guitarist Justin Lowe. Having come up with bands like Born of Osiris, Periphery, The Faceless and such, After the Burial have arguably been the most consistent in their delivery since […]

Ever since I met these, then kids back in 2008 at a Summer Slaughter (or maybe Sounds of the Underground?) show, I’ve enjoyed watching them stick out the genre saturation of proggy deathcore djent whatever ever core that blew up in the mid 00s (“Abstract Art” from the debut The New Reign is still cool as fuck over […]

Though coming up around the same time as bands like Born of Osiris, Periphery, Within the Ruins, The Contortionist, Veil of Maya, The Faceless and many other ‘Sumerian-core’ styled bands, Minnesota’s After the Burial stood out on their second album Rareform, (“The Fractal Effect” is still a damn cool song). But as with the genre as […]

I was ecstatic when Ice-T’s and Ernie C’s heavy metal syndicate, Body Count made a comeback eight years ago with their Murder 4 Hire album. Unfortunately that disc turned out to be a dud and became the bastard child no one speaks about in the group’s discography. Despite Ice-T, the music simply wasn’t that interesting […]

Chicago based Born of Osiris return with their fourth album, Tomorrow We Die Alive. I know there are strictly a lot of people on TOTD that do not like deathcore and BOO definitely still retain those influences on this, however they also incorporate djent styled industrial influences as well as full on death metal, with […]

It’s been four years since the release of The Faceless’ ambitious last album, Planetary Duality. That’s plenty of time for some kind of musical or sonic metamorphosis (and plenty of band member change-ups as well), and on their new concept album Autotheism, the band truly spreads its mutant wings. I was impressed with Akeldama, their […]

It’s time to chalk another one up to the Midwestern metal scene with Minnesota’s After the Burial and their second release on Sumerian Records, In Dreams. This is definitely going to be a favorite for fans of the math metal variety with Meshuggah inevitably being the prime example that comes to mind. And rightfully so, […]

As usual for this time of year, I’m trying to get onto 2010 releases for review, but there are always a few worthwhile, late 2009 stragglers that I feel deserve a mention and your ear. One such release is the debut from Tennessee’s Enfold Darkness. I know Sumerian Records get a lot of flack for […]

A Canadian band playing bouncy, synth filled, epic, Finnish styled folk power/black metal on Sumerian Records (though Nuclear Blast did do the European release) with a female drummer? Yup. Culling from the likes of Ensiferum, Wintersun, Turisas, early Children of Bodom and such, Blackguard (formerly known as Profogus Mortis) give folk fans another solid entry […]

Remember when Marylin Manson covered “This Is Halloween” from The Nightmare Before Christmas? Ok, blend that with the theme from The Munsters and you can envision every song from Creature Feature’s The Greatest Show Unearthed. I was tempted to end my review there. That is truly the best way to describe this album. The songs […]

Though I was very impressed with this young act’s debut, Akeldama back in 2006, my recent experience of them at this year’s Summer Slaughter, and exposure to their new material left me somewhat unimpressed. Whether it was the lack of full time keyboard player, the more experimental material, or just an off night in a […]

A curious development here, these long islanders have decided to abandon their former guise of bombastic, technical metalcore (with gargantuan breakdowns and odd experimental ambient forays) in favour of this much more stripped, direct approach. The feeling that manifests with Villains, is that is very much a classic love/hate scenario. Either you will feverishly gorge […]

After making some waves with their debut release from The Faceless, the second release from the label is a smartly similar release of forward thinking, synth laced, techy, progressive, death metal/deathcore. Throw in some Between The Buried and Me styled arpeggio flourishes, and you get a pretty solid, if all too short release. Clocking in […]

In a year full of technical death metal excellence from the likes of Decapitated, Gorod, Psycroptic and Spawn of Possession, along come a group of six kids from Encino, California and fuck everything up. I’m truly starting to believe that anything that gets labeled as “deathcore” or “metalcore” is now becoming strictly due to the […]